Monday, October 13, 2014

Bellagio

A village set on the point with lake Como one side and lake Lecco on the other, and all around the steep mountains give the area a real fantasy appearance, especially yesterday. We arrived with a mist or low hanging fog that hid the magnificence of the sheer cliffs. The drive in over the last 10 kms is a bit scary with a road that winding and narrow. You need to be ever mindful of the blind corners and then there are the locals that become impatient with us tourists when driving behind. It was relaxing to book into our B&B after the drive.

By mid afternoon the mist had started to thin with the sun burning away what was left. We sat with a glass of wine, just appreciating the view from the main town of Bellagio.
We are staying at Pescallo which is only a short walk from the tourist shopping area of Bellagio. Pescallo started life as a small fishing village where a market was held in years gone by. The mountains either side rise to 2400 metres.

Scenes from Bellagio on arrival

Although Pescallo is walking distance, we drove back into Bellagio as rain was predicted. We went to the Trattoria San Giacomo as I wanted to try their Osso Buco. Although not bad, I still prefer the way Sue makes it. Their version was made in white wine (bianco) and didn't have that richness of red wine and tomatoes. I'm sorry now to not have ordered the Tagliatelle Fungi with those beautiful porcini mushrooms. The Trattoria is popular and we are glad we arrived early - as the night progressed, people sat on the steps leading down to our outside tables, sitting on cushions supplied by the proprietor. They gave the impression of being vultures looking down on us, before swooping down to take our table. This gave us an interesting meeting between a group of Aussies, two ladies from Adelaide celebrating their 60th year, another couple sitting beside us from Sydney and ourselves from Melbourne. We may have this friendly rivalry between the states but we do come together in travelling. It was a very nice night.

Last night it poured down, with the accompanied loud thunderclaps which seem to only be accentuated by the mountains around Pescallo, Bellagio and Como across the lakes.
It stopped for a while this morning, only to return again - heavy rain and thunder may stop us from venturing out, hopefully not.

The B & B here in Pescallo is family owned with Mama and the siblings being part of the business. The son was our breakfast host this morning and he told us of his travels to Australia while also giving us some background of his home village here.
The breakfast offered many choices, where at home, it is usually a quick cuppa and toast with Vegemite and off to work. The table here included a choice cereals, juices, fruit, meats, cheese plus a great array of cakes and pastries. As my father Jack would say, we are spoilt.

Still raining on Lake Como/Lecco.

I did intend to ride to Ghisello, a village high above Bellagio to where there is a cycling museum and a Chapel that pays homage to the great Italian cyclists of the past. The Giro Italia does, on occasion, finish a stage at the top of the mountain. Torrential thunderstorms overnight and into the morning had left the roads wet and greasy - gravel from the hillside had washed across the road in sections. Maybe they are excuses for not attempting the climb, however I was pleased to drive up in comfort.

I have given a more concise post of the museum on my "CYCLING SCRAPBOOK" Blog so I have just posted a few photos here. http://cyclingscrapbook.blogspot.com.au

While I write this post, Sue and I are currently resting in our hotel room in Torino, our last night in Italy. Tomorrow we move into France.

Not realising at the time, we discovered that Torino has one of the largest ancient Egyptian collections and we took the time to view it. We'll post our experience soon over the next day or two..